2009 Vol. 19, No. 4

Display Method:
Articles
Land Use/Cover Changes and Environmental Consequences in Songnen Plain, Northeast China
LIU Dianwei, WANG Zongming, SONG Kaishan, ZHANG Bai, HU Liangjun, HUANG Ni, ZHANG Sumei, LUO Ling, ZHANG Chunhua, JIANG Guangjia
2009, 19(4): 299-305. doi: 10.1007/s11769-009-0299-2
Abstract:
The Songnen Plain in Northeast China,one of the key national bases of agricultural production,went through remarkable land use/cover changes in recent years.This study aimed to explore the long-term land use/cover changes and the effects of these changes on the environment.The Landsat-based analysis showed that,during 1986-2000,cropland,built-up land and barren land had increased,among which cropland had the largest increase of 9,198km2 with an increase rate of 7.5%.Woodland,grassland,water body and swampland had decreased correspondingly,among which grassland had the most dramatic decrease of 6,127km2 with a decrease rate of 25.6%.The transition matrix results revealed that grassland,woodland and swampland were the three main land use types converted to cropland.Climate warming created the potential environment for the conversion of grassland and swampland into cropland.Land resources policy made by central and provincial governments of China affected the pattern and intensity of land use.Land use/cover changes accompanied by climatic variation brought out a series of environmental consequences,such as sand desertification of land,land salinization and alkalinization,grassland degradation,and more frequent floods.Under this circumstance,optimized land use structure and restoration measures are needed.
Wavelet Analysis and Nonparametric Test for Climate Change in Tarim River Basin of Xinjiang During 1959-2006
XU Jianhua, CHEN Yaning, LI Weihong, JI Minhe, DONG Shan, HONG Yulian
2009, 19(4): 306-313. doi: 10.1007/s11769-009-0306-7
Abstract:
Using wavelet analysis,regression analysis and the Mann-Kendall test,this paper analyzed time-series(1959-2006) weather data from 23 meteorological stations in an attempt to characterize the climate change in the Tarim River Basin of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,China.Major findings are as follows:1) In the 48-year study period,average annual temperature,annual precipitation and average annual relative humidity all presented nonlinear trends.2) At the 16-year time scale,all three climate indices unanimously showed a rather flat before 1964 and a detectable pickup thereafter.At the 8-year time scale,an S-shaped nonlinear and uprising trend was revealed with slight fluctuations in the entire process for all three indices.Incidentally,they all showed similar pattern of a slight increase before 1980 and a noticeable up-swing afterwards.The 4-year time scale provided a highly fluctuating pattern of periodical oscillations and spiral increases.3) Average annual relative humidity presented a negative correlation with average annual temperature and a positive correlation with annual precipitation at each time scale,which revealed a close dynamic relationship among them at the confidence level of 0.001.4) The Mann-Kendall test at the 0.05 confidence level demonstrated that the climate warming trend,as represented by the rising average annual temperature,was remarkable,but the climate wetting trend,as indicated by the rising annual precipitation and average annual relative humidity,was not obvious.
Basic Characteristics, Spatial Disparity and Its Major Influencing Factors of Service Industry in China
SHEN Yuming, QIU Ling, REN Wangbing, CAO Yi, HU Dan, SONG Yujing
2009, 19(4): 314-324. doi: 10.1007/s11769-009-0314-7
Abstract:
Based on the analysis of its basic characteristics,this article investigated the disparities of Chinese service industry among the three regions(the eastern China,the western China and the middle China) and inter-provincial disparities of that in the three regions by Theil coefficient and cluster analysis.Then,major factors influencing its spatial disparity were explored by correlation analysis and regression analysis.The conclusions could be drawn as follows.1) The development of Chinese service industry experienced three phases since the 1980s:rapid growth period,slow growth period,and recovery period.From the proportion of value-added and employment,its development was obviously on the low level.From the composition of industrial structure,traditional service sectors were dominant,but modern service sectors were lagged.Moreover,its spatial disparity was distinct.2) The level of Chinese service industry was divided into five basic regional ranks:well-developed,developed,relatively-developed,underdeveloped and undevel-oped regions.As a whole,the overall structure of spatial disparity was steady in 1990-2005.But there was notable gradient disparity in the interior structure of service industry among different provinces.Furthermore,the overall disparity expanded rapidly in 1990-2005.The inter-provincial disparity of service industry in the three regions,especially in the eastern China,was bigger than the disparity among the three regions.And 3) the level of economic development,the level of urban development,the scale of market capacity,the level of transportation and telecommunication,and the abundance of human resources were major factors influencing the development of Chinese service industry.
Private Car Travel Characteristics and Influencing Factors in Chinese Cities——A Case Study of Guangzhou in Guangdong, China
CAO Xiaoshu, CHEN Hemei, LI Linna, ZHEN Feng
2009, 19(4): 325-332. doi: 10.1007/s11769-009-0325-4
Abstract:
Taking Guangzhou as a case,this paper adopted a questionnaire survey to gather first-hand data and analyzed the characteristics and influencing factors of private car travel in Chinese cities.As the research indicated,trip purposes of private car travel are mainly commute and business affairs with a more flexible trip in the urban core area.And trip intensities are concentrated in a certain extent,with trip frequency being lower in the urban core area than the peripheral area.In addition,the trip time has two significant peaks occurring in the morning and afternoon,and one trough in the midday.And trip spatial distribution is mainly within commute with both residence and employment in urban area and inward commute with residence in suburban area while employment in urban area.Both kinds of commutes direct to the urban area.The study also shows that the characteristics of private car travel are principally influenced by two aspects:travelers' attributes and urban characteristics.The main travelers' social and economic attributes influenced it include the gender,education attainment,age,driving experience and per capita monthly household income.The urban characteristics influenced it mainly cover the land use pattern,public traffic facilities and spatial attributes of residential environment.
Spatial Distribution of Archaeological Sites in Lakeshore of Chaohu Lake in China Based on GIS
GAO Chao, WANG Xinyuan, JIANG Tong, JIN Gaojie
2009, 19(4): 333-340. doi: 10.1007/s11769-009-0333-4
Abstract:
There are about 19 Neolithic Age sites and 120 Shang-Zhou dynasties sites in the western lakeshore of Chaohu Lake,Anhui Province,China.Based on sites data,topographic data,drainage maps,administrative maps and SPOT5 remote sensing data,spatial analysis methods were introduced into the archaeology of Chaohu Lake Basin with Geographic Information System(GIS).The spatial analysis methods include:1) Point Density Analysis with density model to acquire the shift of the sites;2) Distance Analysis to reveal the spatial structure of the sites;3) 3D Analysis based on Digital Elevation Model to get micro-geomorphologic features of the sites;and 4) Buffer Analysis to discover the relationship between the sites and rivers.The results indicate that the archaeological sites spread from the western lakeshore of Chaohu Lake gradually to the northwest,later to the south,and then symmetrically spread.Controlled by productive forces and other factors,ancient people preferred to reside in those places near water,or in plain and fertile land,which resulted in linear and decentralized distribution of the sites,and presented such disciplines as river valley directivity,terrace directivity and soil directivity.This paper indicates that the distribution of archaeological sites was influenced earlier by natural elements and later by human elements in the study period.The research is important for the integration of GIS and archaeology.
Regional Structure and Spatial Morphology Characteristics of Oasis Urban Agglomeration in Arid Area——A Case of Urban Agglomeration in Northern Slope of Tianshan Mountains, Northwest China
ZHANG Yufang, YANG Degang, ZHANG Xinhuan, DONG Wen, ZHANG Xiaolei
2009, 19(4): 341-348. doi: 10.1007/s11769-009-0341-4
Abstract:
It is great important to the health development of urban agglomeration to correctly understand the formation and development law of regional structure of urban agglomeration.Employing the analysis methods like fractal theory and quantitative statistics,coupling with the use of remote sensing images and other spatial data,this article discusses the urban agglomeration of oasis on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains in an arid area,and conducts the researches on its city scale,spatial distribution and individual form from 1990 to 2005.The result shows that it has loose hierarchical scale structure and polarization trend of population distribution while its hierarchical scale structure tends to mature.Under the influence of natural conditions,the spatial layout of urban agglomeration of oasis has macro characteristics that suggest cities distributed along oasis edges(dense or sparse),spatially expand along rivers,and cluster around traffic branches.The connectivity among the cities is high and shows an internal organization form of a banding distribution.The whole spatial shape of the internal structure of cities presents a "dumbbell" form,with mononuclear phenomenon receding and multi-nuclear appearing gradually.Individual cities spatially expand along rivers,portraying a long strip appearance.It indicates that the urban agglomeration of oasis shows regular and close structure but with a tendency to be complicated form and the loose structure.In the development of urban agglomeration,the authors recommend that the development of the city with good economic development conditions should be strengthened,and more attention be put into regional planning.
Ecosystem Health Assessment of Honghu Lake Wetland of China Using Artificial Neural Network Approach
MO Minghao, WANG Xuelei, WU Houjian, CAI Shuming, Xiaoyang ZHANG, WANG Huiliang
2009, 19(4): 349-356. doi: 10.1007/s11769-009-0349-9
Abstract:
Honghu Lake,located in the southeast of Hubei Province,China,has suffered a severe disturbance during the past few decades.To restore the ecosystem,the Honghu Lake Wetland Protection and Restoration Demonstration Project(HLWPRDP) has been implemented since 2004.A back propagation(BP) artificial neural network(ANN) approach was applied to evaluatinig the ecosystem health of the Honghu Lake wetland.And the effectiveness of the HLWPRDP was also assessed by comparing the ecosystem health before and after the project.Particularly,12 ecosystem health indices were used as evaluation parameters to establish a set of three-layer BP ANNs.The output is one layer of ecosystem health index.After training and testing the BP ANNs,an optimal model of BP ANNs was selected to assess the ecosystem health of the Honghu Lake wetland.The result indicates that four stages can be identified based on the change of the ecosystem health from 1990 to 2008 and the ecosystem health index ranges from morbidity before the implementation of HLWPRDP(in 2002) to middle health after the implementation of the HLWPRDP(in 2005).It demonstrates that the HLWPRDP is effective and the BP ANN could be used as a tool for the assessment of ecosystem health.
Chemical and Isotopic Approach to Groundwater Cycle in Western Qaidam Basin, China
TAN Hongbing, RAO Wenbo, CHEN Jiansheng, SU Zhiguo, SUN Xiaoxu, LIU Xiaoyan
2009, 19(4): 357-364. doi: 10.1007/s11769-009-0357-9
Abstract:
Due to the extremely arid climate in the western Qaidam Basin,the groundwater almost becomes the single water source for local residents and industrial production.It is necessary to know the reliable information on the groundwater cycle in this region for reasonable and sustainable exploitation of the groundwater resources with the further execution of recycling economy policies.This study focused on the recharge,the flow rate and the discharge of groundwater in the western Qaidam Basin through investigations on water chemistry and isotopes.Hydrological,chemical and isotopic characteristics show that the groundwater in the western Qaidam Basin was recharged by meltwater from new surface snow and old bottom glaciers on the northern slope of the Kunlun Mountains.In addition,the results also prove that the source water is enough and stable,and the rates of the circulation and renewal of the groundwater are relatively quick.Therefore,it can be concluded that the groundwater resources would guarantee the regional requirement if the meltwater volume of the mountains has not a great changes in future,moreover,water exploitation should be limited to the renewable amount of the groundwater reservoir in the western Qaidam Basin.
Identifying Key Environmental Factors Influencing Spatial Variation of Water Quality in Upper Shitoukoumen Reservoir Basin in Jilin Province, China
TANG Yanling, ZHANG Guangxin, YANG Yuesuo, GAO Yingzhi
2009, 19(4): 365-374. doi: 10.1007/s11769-009-0365-9
Abstract:
Based on the observed data in monitored drainage areas and GIS spatial analysis tools,watershed basic database of Shitoukoumen Reservoir Basin was built.The multivariate analysis and redundancy analysis(RDA) were used to analyze the spatial and temporal variations of water quality,identify the key environmental factors and their patterns influencing the spatial variation of water quality,and determine the main types and forms of the non-point source(NPS) pollutant export controlled by the key environmental factors.The results show that different patterns of environmental factors lead to great changes in water quality at spatial and seasonal scales.All selected environmental factors explain 64.5% and 68.2% of the spatial variation of water quality over dry season and rainy season,respectively,which shows clear seasonal difference.Over dry season,residential land is the most important environmental factor,which possesses 35.4% of the spatial variation,and drainage area is the second key environmental factor,which possesses 17.0% of spatial variation in the total variance.Over rainy season,slope length and drainage area are the key environmental factors,which possess 29.3% of the spatial variation together.Residential land influences nitrogen export by changing NH4+-N and particulate organic nitrogen(PON) discharge over dry season,and drainage area controls phosphorus export by regulating dissolved phosphorus(DP) drainage over dry season and phosphorus associated particulate(PAP) loss over rainy season,respectively.Although slope length is an important environmental factor,it does not influence NPS pollutant export.It is interesting that soil organic matter,as a minor environmental factor,highly determines phosphorus and nitrogen export by enhancing the DP,PAP and PON loss.
β-diversity Patterns of Plant Community in Fragmented Habitat in a Degenerated Meadow in Songnen Plain, China
HAN Dayong, LI Haiyan, YANG Yunfei
2009, 19(4): 375-381. doi: 10.1007/s11769-009-0375-7
Abstract:
A number of isolated islands of Leymus chinensis + herbosa community were investigated in fragmented habitat islands,by Braun-Blanquet field survey approach,in a degenerated meadow in the Songnen Plain,China in 2007.These islands were classified as large,medium,and small scales on the basis of the island area(100-1000m2,large island;50-100m2,middle island;10-50m2,small island).Each scale of the investigation involved eight islands.The responses of β-diversity patterns of plant taxon to the habitat fragmentation at local community and metacommunity levels were analyzed on different scales of 24 isolated islands.The results indicated that at the local community level,there were 57 species belonging to 20 families and 49 genera in large islands,49 species belonging to 16 families and 40 genera in middle islands,and 27 species belonging to eight families and 23 genera in small islands.β-diversity indexes for species,genus and family in large,middle,and small islands varied greatly,and the highest value of the indexes was not noted in the largest island.However,the average of the data obtained at the three scales showed that across large islands,Whittaker indexes were low and Bray-Curtis similarity indexes were high,while across small islands,Whittaker indexes were high and Bray-Curtis similarity indexes were low.At the metacommunity level,Whittaker indexes for species and genus showed a great significantly negative double logarithmic correlation(p<0.01) with the island area,whereas the Bray-Curtis indexes for species,genus and family showed a great significantly positive double logarithmic correlation(p<0.01) with the island area.At both local community and metacommunity levels,turnovers of species and genus could respond more sensitively to spatial changes of plant diversity patterns than that of family.Hence,the species and the genus could be used for the analysis of β-diversity patterns of plant community.
Urban Three-dimensional Expansion and Its Driving Forces——A Case Study of Shanghai, China
SHI Longyu, SHAO Guofan, CUI Shenghui, LI Xuanqi, LIN Tao, YIN Kai, ZHAO Jingzhu
2009, 19(4): 391-398. doi: 10.1007/s11769-009-0291-x
Abstract:
Urban expansion is a phenomenon of urban space increase,and an important measuring index of the process of urbanization.Taking Shanghai as an example,the changes of urban average height and built-up area were studied to represent city's vertical and horizontal increases respectively,and statistical methods were used to analyze the driving forces of urban expansion.The research drew following conclusions:1) The urban expansion process of Shanghai from 1985 to 2006 had a clear periodic feature,and could be divided into three stages:vertical expansion in dominance,coordinated vertical and horizontal expansion,and horizontal expansion in dominance.2) The average height and quantity of buildings in core city were significantly bigger than those in suburbs,but the changing speed of the latter was faster.And 3) urbanization process was the major driving force for the city's horizontal expansion,while industrial structure improvement was the key driving factor for the vertical expansion.Those two driving forces were simultaneously affected by city's political factors.